Attending the WSW broadcast last night was fun. About all I can add to Al Brumley's article below is that the only question Lou pitched to Ep with the least bit of heat on it was what he thought about the browser wars. Ep sort of mumbled right through it.
Rukeyser bullish on Texas cliches
'Wall Street Week' kicks off season at SMU
11/22/97
By Al Brumley / The Dallas Morning News
There was plenty of highfalutin talk at first, but when it came time to draw, Wall Street Week With Louis Rukeyser turned into the "OK, whatever" corral.
The venerable show kicked off its 28th season Friday night with its first-ever Texas-based broadcast at Southern Methodist University's McFarlin Auditorium. (Or, as the announcer said, "The McFarlin Memorial Auditorium." Dang furiners.)
About 1,500 people showed up at 7:30 for the broadcast, a fund-raiser for KERA-TV (Channel 13). Two giant video screens on either side of the stage allowed the well-heeled crowd to experience the modern-day phenomenon of going to a live event and watching it on television.
Mr. Rukeyser, affable as always, entered twirling a riata, his head nearly swallowed up by a huge cowboy hat, a cartoon-large six-point star pinned to his lapel.
"Howdy," he said, delighting the crowd. "You can call me L.R. Ewing."
He proceeded to give Texas some big ol' slobbery sugar as he raved about the state's "vibrant economy, powered by ultra-modern technology and transportation."
A video about Texas opened with a typical stock shot of livestock silhouetted against a setting sun. Texas, Mr. Rukeyser said in a voice-over, is "a land so vast that pioneering Americans drove their cattle over a seemingly endless landscape."
Later came his two guests, American Airlines chairman Robert L. Crandall and Eckhard Pfeiffer, president and CEO of Houston-based Compaq Computer.
But any hopes that Mr. Crandall would take off on the Wright Amendment fell flat. All he said was that the public decided in 1968 it wanted one major airport. "It made the right decision then," he said. "I think it'll make the right decision now."
A few more questions about the futures of their prospective companies, and just like that, the 30-minute show was done. It happened so quickly, it even seemed to take KERA-FM (90.1) by surprise: The station ran a plug for the event 10 minutes after it was over.
Oh yeah, one more thing: For the week, the Dow was up 308.59 to close at 7881.07.
c 1997 The Dallas Morning News |
